TOULOUSE, France, June 15, 2006 (AFP) - The problems that have thrown the Airbus A380 superjumbo airliner into dramatic production delays and slashed the value of Airbus spark from the complexity of electrical systems specific to each customer, the company says. The weak point in the production line is called work station 30. It is here that the framework of the aircraft is fitted out and electronic and electrical systems are wired up.
In announcing 12 months ago an initial delay of six months in delivery of the first airliners, Airbus referred to difficulties in supplying cabling adapted to the needs of each customer airline. At the time Airbus played down the impact of this, but in the statement late on Tuesday about a further and deep production delay, associated with a profit warning, the company repeated that the problems arose mainly from bottle necks in the specification, manufacture and installation of electrical systems.
The other production point for the giant airliner is work station 40, where the six main structural components such as wings and fuselage are put together after being transported from production sites around Europe. Convoys of trucks bringing these parts from the airport at Bordeaux in southwest France to Toulouse, where Airbus is based, were running at the rate of two per month at the beginning of the year, but there has been almost no traffic for two months. |